Girl Meets Sickness
by CollegeSenior18
Summary: Maya said that she has "no one to help her with her homework" so what happens when she gets sick and her mom is out of town? Who's going to take care of her then?


_Hey y'all so I'm just posting this as a long one shot. It was originally supposed to be broken into about 4 parts. I debated with myself multiple times over if I thought it was good enough to post before finally I'm just going to post it quickly and hide :P As for those of you who were following my other story "The New Life Of Melody Pond" I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to adding the final chapters. The end of senior year and most of this summer have been chaotic trying to gather everything I need for college. As always I don't own Girl Meets World, it's characters, Disney, Dayquil, or anything else. Without further ado, here's the story!_

Maya awoke to the shrill ringing of her alarm clock. She hit the off button on her alarm and flopped back down on her bed, realizing just how horribly she felt. Her head and throat were hurting, along with the rest of her body, and she felt exhausted despite having a full night of sleep. She groaned and got up, knowing she should go ask her mom if she could stay home from school today.

She padded out of her room and down the hall to find the kitchen and living room empty, but there was a note on the counter.

_Maya, _

_I'm going out of town for the weekend. I'll be back late Monday night._

_Mom_

Great, Maya thought. Not that she was expecting her mom to stay with her and give her soup or anything. Her mom worked double shifts at the diner every day, leaving her alone at home to take care of herself most of the time.

She glanced around the empty apartment and sighed. She really didn't want to stay here alone all day so she headed back to her room to get ready for school. Her face was paler than normal and she had dark circles around her eyes so she put on some light makeup and took some motrin so that the Matthews' wouldn't get suspicious of her. She grabbed her bag and headed down to Riley's apartment so they could ride the subway to school together.

Riley answered the door barely even five seconds after knocked.

"Good Morning!" Riley chirped cheerfully. She was always such a morning person, Maya thought slightly annoyed that her headache hadn't gone away yet.

"Morning, Riles." Maya replied as she followed Riley to the kitchen table.

"Morning, Maya. I made oatmeal today." Riley's mom said as she spooned out generous portions into everyone's bowls.

"Oh, no. That's okay, Mrs. Matthew. I'm not—"

"I wasn't asking." Topanga interrupted as she passed Maya a bowl.

Usually Maya was happy when Riley's mom fed her breakfast, seeing as when she fixed her own breakfast it was just a bowl of cereal or a granola bar. Unlike other mornings, she just wasn't very hungry, but she knew Mrs. Matthews was expecting her to eat.

She nibbled on the oatmeal and then pushed it around the bowl to make it seem like she's eaten more. "Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Matthews. Riley and I better be going, I, uh, need some help with my homework before school starts."

Topanga was surprised by the announcement. Maya's actually doing her homework? "Oh, okay. Have a great day, girls." She waved them off, before turning around the help Auggie get ready for school.

Once they were clear out of the apartment, Riley stopped Maya. "What's up? You never do your homework, and you always eat all of your food."

"I just wanted to get to school early and I ate before I came over." Maya quickly lied.

Riley just shrugged and continued walking. She knew Maya wasn't telling the truth, but she also knew that pushing her to talk would get her no where. They boarded the subway silently for once as Maya wasn't really in a talkative mood and Riley was deep in thought trying to figure out what was wrong with Maya.

_E'tchoo! _Maya's sneeze pulled Riley out of her thoughts. "Bless you!"

"Thanks." Maya sniffled quietly as the subway pulled up to their stop.

They made it to Riley's locker early for once, so they were able to just hang out for a while before they had to go to class.

_Eheh'choo! Esh'tchoo! E'tCHOO! _Maya doubled over from the force of that last sneeze as she cupped her hand over her nose. She looked around frantically for a tissue.

"Bless you! Are you sure you're alright, Maya?" Riley asked as she pulled a tissue out of her backpack and handed it to Maya. She had had a cold last month and the small pack of tissues happened to still be in the front pocket.

"I'b fide." Maya replied before blowing her nose, then washing her hands with the pocket hand sanitizer that Riley kept on the side of her backpack.

The warning bell sounded, and they headed off to their first class, which so happened to be with Riley's dad.

"Good morning, girls. You guys left pretty early this morning. I didn't even see you two at breakfast." Cory greeted.

"Yeah, Maya needed help with something, so we needed to be at school early." Riley lied before taking her seat.

The bell rang and Cory quickly took attendance before starting his lesson for the day.

"Okay class, today we will be talking about the—" _Heh'chhoo!_ A sneeze sounded from down in front of him. "Bless you, Maya. Today we'll be talking about the Great Depression."

Cory began to teach about the Great Depression, pausing every few minutes to say bless you. Finally he just set the box of tissues on Maya's test and placed the trashcan next to her, much to the embarrassment of Maya, whose face flushed redder than it already was. She always tried to be cool, but apparently cool just wasn't going to happen today.

By the end of class Maya had started coughing and trying to clear her throat quietly in an effort not to cough. Finally, the bell rang, saving Maya from any additional embarrassing outbursts. Riley and Maya gathered their stuff and started to leave with the other students. "Riley, Maya, would you stay back for a minute please." He scrawled out a note to the nurse and handed it to Riley. "Riley, take Maya to the nurse please. I'll call your next teacher and tell them that you'll be late."

"That's dot decessary, Bister Batthews, I'b fide." Maya croaked.

"Mhmm. Sure you are. If you're fine, then you have nothing to worry about. The nurse will just send you back to class."

The two girls started to leave the classroom. "Oh, and Maya?"

"Yes?" Maya turned around hoping that maybe he had changed his mind.

"Feel better soon."

Maya sighed and Riley grabbed her arm, leading her to the nurse's office. Nurse Laurie was on the phone when the two girls entered so she just waved for them to have a seat. The person Ms. Laurie was talking to put her on hold so she took the opportunity to read the note from Mr. Matthews and to stick a thermometer under Maya's tongue. Maya's nose started twitching almost as soon as the nurse put the thermometer in her mouth. Maya's eyes went wide and she started waving her hands at Ms. Laurie, who was back on the phone, to show that she needed to sneeze. The nurse ripped the thermometer out right when it beeped, which was just in time for Maya to start sneezing. _Eh'hechoo! Esh'tchoo! E'tCHOO! _

"Bless you, Maya!" Riley said.

The nurse hung up the phone. "Bless you, dear. Riley, you can head back to class."

"Okay, bye Maya! Feel better! I'll come visit you after school!" Riley enthusiastically waved goodbye.

"Well dear, you're running a bit of a fever. Who would you like for me to call to come get you?"

"Umm…" Maya honestly didn't have anyone to come get her. Her mom was gone and none of her other family lived around here. She thought about maybe having Mrs. Matthews pick her up but she didn't know if she had to work today. "Can you call Mrs. Matthew for me? Their home number is 323-790-4967."

The nurse nodded and dialed the phone number. Nobody answered. "I don't think anyone's home, does she have a cell phone I can try?"

"Umm no, that's okay, she's probably at work. Can I just go home? I don't live too far from here."

"Sorry dear, school policy states that we can't send a student home early unless an adult checks them out or we have a note dismissing you. Anyone else I can call?"

Maya shook her head no. "Okay, that's fine. Why don't you lie down for a little while you think about it."

Maya lied down on one of the red rubber cots and was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the cot.

While Maya was asleep the nurse reread the note Riley gave her.

_Nurse Laurie,_

_My daughter Riley is bringing Maya to you because I suspect that she's sick. Please send her home if you feel that it would be best for her. _

_Mr. Matthews_

It was no secret that the two girls were inseparable best friends. She always saw them hanging out together last year waiting for Riley's dad to get off work to take them home. She picked up the school phone and dialed the number to Mr. Matthew's class. His class should be at lunch right now and when he's not on lunch duty he usually eats in his classroom.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Nurse Laurie, I have Maya here with me."

Cory was confused. He sent Maya to the nurse about a half hour ago, she should've been heading home."Okay. So what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, Maya doesn't have anyone to pick her up so I was wondering if you would be able to take her home once your classes end?"

Poor Maya, Cory thought. "I have classes until the end of the day, but I'm going to call my wife and see if she can pick her up. I think she's just filing paperwork today at the office."

"Thank you, I didn't want her to have to stay here all day. It gets quite boring." The nurse chuckled and the two hung up, leaving Cory to call his wife.

Topanga was so ready to leave work that she agreed to pick Maya up in a heartbeat. She walked in to the nurse's office and found Maya curled up on one of the cots. Topanga smiled to herself. She looks so innocent when she sleeps, so unlike the trouble maker she can be when she's awake. She walked over and sat on the edge of the cot.

"Maya, time to wake up." Topanga whispered softly as she gently shook her awake.

"Mrs. Matthew?" Maya asked in surprise as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey, I'm here to take you ?"

Maya coughed and cleared her throat before speaking again. " I thought you had to work?"

"It was just paperwork, besides, I was dying for an excuse to leave." Topanga smiled down at her and helped her gather her things.

Maya smiled back at Topanga, then sneezed again. _Eh'choo! Heh'et'choo!_

"Bless you."

The subway ride home was a blur. Maya spent half the time struggling to stay awake, and Topanga spent the time trying to get ahold of Maya's mother.

They took the elevator up to Maya's floor. Topanga insisted on taking her all the way to her apartment so that she could talk to Maya's mother. Maya was too nervous to tell Mrs. Matthews that her mom had left her at home for the weekend so when they opened the apartment to find it empty, Topanga was quite surprised.

"Maya... where's your mom?"

Maya sighed which turned into a small coughing fit. Mrs. Matthews rubbed her back and Maya inwardly smiled at the motherly touch. As long as she could remember, her mom had never rubbed her back when she was sick or coughing. Once she had caught her breath, she knew she had to explain what was going on. She looked down at her shoes and mumbled, "My mom's out of town for the weekend..."

"Well why didn't you just say so? You can come spend the weekend at our house."

"Really?" Maya looked back up, hopeful that she wouldn't have to spend the weekend alone.

"Yes. You can't be home alone if you're sick." Maya blushed bright red when she said that. She's been home sick by herself before but she sure as heck wasn't going to admit that to Riley's mom. "Go pack some clothes, I'll wait for you on the sofa."

Maya scurried to her room in excitement to pack. She always considered the Matthews more of her family than her own and she was excited to spend the whole weekend with them. She packed two pairs of pajamas, some socks, two sweat suits, and her toiletries into a bag before coming out to find Mrs. Matthews sitting on the sofa. She was about to say she was ready to go when her nose started tickling again. _Eh-E'tchoo! _

"Bless you! Are you ready to go?"

Maya sniffled and nodded yes so they headed back down a floor to the Matthew's apartment.

"Maya, you can go put your stuff in Riley's room and change into something more comfortable if you'd like. I just changed the sheets on Riley's bed so you can go ahead and get in bed if you'd like."

"Oh, doe thandks Bisses Batthew's, I don't wanna take Riley's bed frob her. I'll just sleep on the floor."

"Nonsense, you're sick. You take the bed, besides Riley's been wanting to try out the new air mattress we got, along with her new sleeping bag."

Maya nodded and left to go change into a pair of her flannel pajamas. She normally didn't like wearing them because they looked kind of childish, but she was so cold and knew they would keep her warm. She moved her bag under the window seat and then went and washed all the makeup off her face before climbing into Riley's bed.

She was just about to go to sleep when Mrs. Matthews walked in with a tray of stuff. "Here stick this under your tongue for a minute." She said as she handed Maya the thermometer. Riley reluctantly stuck the thermometer under her tongue and tried to get a look at what was on the tray Mrs. Matthews had set down. Before she could look though, the thermometer beeped and Mrs. Matthews was taking it out of her mouth. "101.9. Here, I know you don't like orange juice so I brought you some apple juice along with some medicine."

Maya eagerly reached for the apple juice. "Ah-ah-ah" Mrs. Matthews tisked. "Take this first." She handed Maya the small plastic cup of DayQuil, watching as Maya took it with a small grimace. She handed Maya the apple juice and Maya drank almost half the cup before putting it down on the bedside table.

"Are you hungry? I can go make you some chicken noodle soup?"

Maya shook her head no. She had already made Mrs. Matthews come and pick her up. She didn't want to make her cook too. However, her stomach betrayed her and growled.

"I'm going to go make some anyways, maybe you'll change your mind. Just holler if you need anything else, okay?"

Maya nodded and snuggled back under the blankets. It was nice having someone take care of you when you weren't feeling well Maya realized.

Mrs. Matthews came in and gently shook Maya awake about an hour later so that she could eat. _E'tchoo! _"Thandks for lundch, Bisses Batthew's."

"Your welcome, now eat." Mrs. Matthews handed her the bowl and then placed the back of her hand on Maya's forehead and frowned. "You're still pretty warm."

_Heh'Choo! E'tCHOO! _Maya sniffled and grabbed a tissue off the table beside her to blow her nose. "When will Riley be hobe?"

"Probably in another hour. So enjoy the peace and quiet while you can." Topanga said with a grin.

She finished eating and passed the bowl back to Mrs. Matthews in hopes to get some sleep that way she could be wide awake when Riley got home.

Riley, Auggie, and Mr. Matthews got home about an hour and a half later.

"Honey, we're home!" Cory announced, knowing his wife hated the old cheesy saying.

"Hey! We need to talk. You too, Riley." Topanga motioned them over to the couch.

"What about me?" Auggie asked indignantly, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"You can come listen, but it's going to be a long and boring talk about—" Topanga started to say, but Auggie bounced off the sofa before she could finish.

"Never mind! I'm going to go play!" Auggie ran off to his room.

"So how's Maya?" Cory asked.

"Sick, but actually she's in Riley's room." Topanga covered her ears waiting for either Riley's screams of excitement or Cory's shouts of anger for not discussing this matter with him. Neither came and Topanga uncovered her ears.

"Her mom at work?" Cory asked. He knew her mom worked a lot, but he just thought she put in a lot of overtime hours.

"No, she's out of town until late Monday night." Topanga explained.

Cory frowned. "Who leaves a 12 year old home alone for 4 days?"

"Apparently she does. I didn't want to leave her home alone, especially not when she's so sick, so I'm letting her spend the weekend with us."

This time Riley let out an excited squeal, which woke up Maya who was lightly sleeping just down the hall. Maya ran her fingers through her hair and padded out to the living room.

Maya yawned and took a seat on the sofa between Riley and Mr. Matthews.

Riley gave her best friend a hug. "Feeling better?"

Maya's head snapped forward sharply before she could answer. _Heh et'choo! _"A little. Thandks." Maya sniffled and smiled weakly.

"Maya, does your mom often leave you home alone?" Cory asked softly.

Maya blushed and told a half truth. "No. I mean she works double shifts at the diner everyday, but she doesn't go out of town too often."

"How late does she work at the diner?"

Maya shrugged. "I'm usually in bed by time she gets home." She paused and realized that she just said she's left alone all day. "But she's always there when I wake up in the morning." She quickly amended hoping that that made it sound better.

Cory and Topanga shared a concern glance and Maya yawned again, much the amusement of the two adults.

"Maya, why don't you go back to bed. You'll have plenty of time to talk to Riley later." Topanga told her.

_E'tchoo! Heh et'choo! _

_"_Bless you!" The three of them chorused.

Maya nodded her thanks and left the room. The moment she was completely out of the room the two adults rounded on Riley. "What do you know about Maya's mom?" Topanga asked.

"Just that she works a lot. I've never seen her home when I'm there. Maya always tries to avoid me coming over though."

"You've always taken Maya her school work when she stays home sick. Is anyone ever there when you go?" Cory asked his daughter.

Riley shook her head. "No, she usually just says her mom ran out for a minute whenever I ask... oh my gosh! She was lying to me wasn't she? Her mom's never home when she's sick!" Riley thought back on all the times she'd brought her friend work and she was just lying on the sofa watching tv by herself.

Cory and Topanga shared another sad and concerned look. "Yeah. That's what we're thinking, Sweetheart." Cory started to rub Riley's back, but she jumped to her feet.

"Well then we need to take care of her and show her what a real family does when someone's sick!" Riley exclaimed. Cory and Topanga smiled at how sweet and caring their daughter was turning out to be.

"We were thinking the same thing." Cory said with a smile.

Riley helped her parents make chicken noodle soup from scratch while Maya slept and by time she woke up it had just finished cooking.

Maya loved it. The Matthews all spent all weekend helping Maya feel better and her fever steadily decreased. By late Sunday night, her fever was almost non-existent.

Cory and Topanga made her stay home on Monday and they even let her spend the night again which surprised Maya and Riley because they never allowed sleepovers on school nights.

Even though the Matthews weren't her family by blood, she still considered them her true family. They were the ones always looking out for her, helping her, and teaching her right from wrong. Maya fell asleep Monday night thinking about just how great it was to be included in the Matthews family and how much she was looking forward to staying a part of it.


End file.
